Creative Practices

I have decided to explore a couple of different ways to build and explore various creative practices. In order to make this a sustainable practice, I have looked at ways to implement ways of learning while doing this alongside my children. Many of the activities are done with my kids so they are many of the co-authors.
I have found that many of the examples have a large social justice focus as this is a strong interest of mine.

I Shouldn't Complain - a found poem

I have chosen to do my first found poem from the book "The Birth House" by Ami McKay. This Canadian book takes place in the early 20th century in Nova Scotia and examines the roles of women, birth, midwifery, and medicine.

The title of the poem is "I Shouldn't Complain"

Soundscape Map

I went with my youngest daughter and her best friend outside on a rainy day. We sat, as quietly as we could with two chatty best friends, and listened to the sounds that surrounded us. We began with reading the book "The Listening Walk" and then took out our watercolour paper and black pens. Once we were done listening we used watercolour paint to finish up our artwork.

Click on the image to link to the video of us listening carefully.

Muir Laws, J., & Lygren, E. (2020, September 12). Soundscape Map. How to Teach Nature Journaling. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://howtoteachnaturejournaling.com/activities/soundscape-maps-2/

Sacher, C. (2022, July 4). Sound scape. YouTube. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://youtu.be/0IbI-P8pzqU

The Forks Project

This is a collaborative project with other students within this course who are also from Manitoba. Much of the information from this project comes from the Louis Riel Indigenous Learning Team, the art exhibits at the Forks in Winnipeg, and the many knowledge keepers that shared their collective knowledge with us over the years.

On June 17th, I had the opportunity to go for a walking tour that looked at the Indigenous and Metis history of the Forks area. On July 1st, my children and I went to a celebration and remembrance called "New Day" which was held at the Forks. Finally, on July 7th, Lenea and I had the opportunity to tour the Forks and see how the natural and human-made structures help to connect us to this place.

Please click on the bison image to go to the cellphilm that has been created called "Seeing the Forks Anew".

Zoom in...Zoom Out - Journal Entry

This was a collaborative project that I did with my 11-year-old. I was just going to take the pictures, but they decided to do drawings to accompany the photos for this journal entry. Click the image below to see the video of the drawing and photography.

I used the journal prompt from "How to Teach Nature Journaling" called “zoom in, zoom out”. These are the cutest little mushrooms that are growing along our fence.

Muir Laws talks about the importance of nature journals and how these activities teach children how to become close observers of the natural world – by encouraging the drawing and writing about plants and animals. The field journal “reinforces the most important science process skills; observation and documentation. All other parts of the process of science depend on these skills” (2020).

Photos by Charlene Sacher and art by Elliot Sacher

Muir Laws, J., & Lygren, E. (2020, September 12). Zoom in, zoom out. How to Teach Nature Journaling. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://howtoteachnaturejournaling.com/activities/zoom-in-zoom-out-2/

Sacher, C. (2022, July 4). Zoom out and zoom in. YouTube. Retrieved July 4, 2022, from https://youtu.be/U1fOmG33AQs

From Looking to Writing

Below you will find my middle child's poem looking closely poem. Before Lillian began to write we talked about Rogier Marshall's (2007) advice when creating a poem when looking at a natural landscape, I needed to look closely. When "assembling landscape poem, the tendency is to include too much... look for the unusual, the unseen, the surprise". They worked on this poem for quite a while as I sat and sketched.

This tree has such incredible importance to me. When my grandpa passed away 7 years ago, I planted an apple tree in his honour. One of his wishes was to have an orchard after he "retired" from farming. For the last seven years, the tree has not produced. I have only gotten three or four flowers in the last seven years.

As many of you know, my grandma passed away late last spring, after the tree had once again, had leaves but no blooms.

This year however, my tree was filled with blooms and now apples. I know in my spirit that is because my grandpa can know retire, as the love of his life is now back with him. Each of those apples will be a blessing and a remembrance of my grandparents who have so deeply impacted my life and made me into the person I am today. If you would like to see more on the topic of grief, as I explored it last year, feel free to check out my video that I did about grief and ceremony.

https://charlenesacher.wixsite.com/website/post/grief-and-ceremony

Rogier Marshall, S. (2007). A Walk Through the Woods: From Looking to Writing. In C. McEwen & M. Statman (Eds.), The Alphabet of the Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing Paperback (pp. 117–131). essay, Teachers & Writers Collaborative.

The Apple Tree

- By Lillian Sacher

Burnt brown trunk

with soft blades of grass forming around the base

The log - rough and thick

Majestic branches pushing from the body of this tree

The arms holding up just blossomed green apples and covered in emerald oval leaves.

Each leaf with small spikes coming from the sides and a light green line zipping across the middle

Veins stretch through this forest green beauty.